Queue here for the Currys credit crush

The televisions may have been half price at the Currys Megastore sale yesterday - but getting hold of one came at a cost.

Leave some for us: The queue outside the store

Some of the 3,000 customers waiting outside had lined up from 8pm the night before to secure their bargain.

Others, who arrived late and tried to jump the queue, set off an hour of pushing and shoving that left several bruised and at least one man bleeding from a battered nose.

A pensioner fainted in the crush after queueing for five hours, and had to be taken to hospital.

In the end, police were called to sort out the chaos at the store in Wednesbury, West Midlands, and staff had to open half an hour early at 6.30am to ease tensions. The crowds caused seven-mile tailbacks on the M6.

Once inside the store, some shoppers were seen taking items from others' trolleys.

They were fighting for bargains such as a £19.99 sat nav and the bargain LCD TVs.

One shopper, Toni-Marie McGrory, 25, of nearby Willenhall, said: 'Everyone was pushing. One lady had to leave because she felt sick and I had to help a couple in their seventies who were getting crushed. It was horrendous.'

A Currys spokesman said: 'I think, given the current economic climate, everyone is looking for a bargain.'